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SAS® Users Group Development

SAS® Users Group Development

• Why Form a Users Group?

• IHUG or LUG?

• Getting Started

• Registering and Requesting Support

• Spreading the Word

• Your First Meeting

• Sample Agenda

• Annual Support

Welcome & Build

Inform & Educate

Retain & Reinforce

Active Advocacy

Develop

Contact / Social

Why Form a Users Group? Believe it or not, the collaboration between SAS and its users actually predates the official formation of the company itself. The very first SAS users group conference took place Jan. 26-28, 1976, in Kissimmee, FL — and SAS wasn’t incorporated until later that year! More than 300 people attended, sharing information with each other and SAS leadership.

The tradition that began there is alive and well today. We continue to honor the voice of our customers and deliver new initiatives based on your input. That’s why we’re proud to support the active and engaged users in our local and organizational communities.

If there’s not an existing SAS users group within your area or organization, consider forming your own group to help you:

• Foster connections and collaboration with other SAS professionals.

• Increase your understanding of SAS products and services.

• Stay up to date on new offerings and the latest techniques.

• Enhance your leadership and presentation skills.

IHUG or LUG?Which users group is right for you?In-House

In-house users groups (IHUGs) reside within a single organization and are a great way for colleagues to exchange ideas and improve organizational knowledge, methods and practices. IHUGs enable discussion of confidential topics and use of actual data.

Local

Local users groups (LUGs) bring together a broad range of SAS software users from different organizations within a specific geographic area, such as a city, county or state. They meet throughout the year based on their needs.

Getting StartedTaking the first stepsNow that you’ve decided to form a SAS users group, it’s time to make the decisions that will put your group on the way to gaining the most from its experiences together!

These include the group’s objectives, structure, leadership, meetings and administrative functions.

1. Check first to see if there is already a SAS users group in your geographic area or company.

2. Form a UG committee. This is usually made up of two to five people who share responsibility for ongoing group activities to help the users group succeed.

3. Confirm interest/viability. Many people who have started users groups — particularly local groups — have found that surveying potential members before formally organizing helps gauge backgrounds, interests and expectations. Use the survey to elicit opinions about:• Organization of the group (structured

or informal).• Time, length and frequency of meetings.• Structure of meetings (number and format

of presentations, etc.).4. Create a mission statement or statement of

purpose for your new group. It will help keep your group focused and let people know why they should join this new group.

5. Define structure. Will this group meet in person or virtually? Maybe it varies. Are the meetings monthly? Quarterly? Twice a year? Making this decision early on keeps the group working toward its purpose without confusion.

SAS® Users Group Development

• Why Form a Users Group?

• IHUG or LUG?

• Getting Started

• Registering and Requesting Support

• Spreading the Word

• Your First Meeting

• Sample Agenda

• Annual Support

Welcome & Build

Inform & Educate

Retain & Reinforce

Active Advocacy

Develop

Contact / Social

Registering and Requesting SupportOnce your planning is taken care of, it’s time to officially register your local group. Users groups may register with SAS at any time, and groups are required to renew their registrations on an annual basis. The registration/renewal form can be found here. Note that you will need to provide contact information for primary contact and committee/board members.

Submit your request here for help with SAS speakers, books and giveaways for your meetings.

Spreading the Word About Your GroupSAS website (LUGs only)

• When you register your users group, SAS includes it in our online listing of users groups. (Just click on Find US Local Groups.)

Your users group website• A website provides a forum for you to define

and promote the group, post meeting dates and topics, list your group’s officers and recruit new members. Local users groups that maintain a website can request a link from the SAS Users Groups web page and post meeting information there.

• IHUGS should consider setting up an internal site, such as a SharePoint page, so that only members within the organization can access this information.

Email/blogs/social media• Regular communications set the tone for the

group and help members feel included even when they are not able to attend meetings. Be sure to obtain members’ permission to communicate by email, and make it easy for them to update their contact information as well as to unsubscribe or opt out of future mailings.

• Social media is a crucial form of keeping in touch with members. Forming a group on LinkedIn or Facebook and establishing a blog or Twitter feed are great ways to let members know about group activities, forge connections between members and attract new members. Be sure to join the SAS Users Groups discussion group on LinkedIn to receive and post announcements there.

• Give your members stimulating content. While meeting announcements and other group news are important, you can better engage your members by also posting links to relevant SAS content to your own or your group’s LinkedIn or Facebook pages, Twitter feeds or blogs. Check out blogs.sas.com for an array of technical, business and industry-specific content related to SAS — there’s even a SAS Users Groups blog. Subscribe and look for users groups discussions on Twitter with the hashtag #sasusers.

• Have your members create and share content, too. They can be great resources for blog posts or e-newsletters, providing useful material such as technical tips. An ideal forum for finding and sharing useful content is communities.sas.com, an online community for SAS users.

SAS® Users Group Development

• Why Form a Users Group?

• IHUG or LUG?

• Getting Started

• Registering and Requesting Support

• Spreading the Word

• Your First Meeting

• Sample Agenda

• Annual Support

Welcome & Build

Inform & Educate

Retain & Reinforce

Active Advocacy

Develop

Contact / Social

Your First Meeting1. Determine your location.

2. Arrange for speakers, including a member presentation. This is a good way for members to learn about each other and get excited by sharing information.

3. Create your agenda.

4. Invite people and ask them to register for the event. (Please ensure that you include language in the registration process that allows you to share the registrants’ contact information with SAS.)

5. At the meeting, encourage members to actively participate in their new group. This is a good time to get volunteers for future speakers, administrative tasks, blog/website/social media, etc.

Sample Users Group Meeting AgendaDifferent groups have different needs from their agenda. Some groups meet for an hour, and some have full-day meetings. The more presenters you have, the more time you’ll need. Don’t forget to schedule a break every couple of hours. That’s a great networking opportunity and time for everyone to stretch their legs! Here’s a sample agenda:

• Registration and networking, often with breakfast, lunch or a snack (15-30 minutes).

• Housekeeping/announcements (10-15 minutes).

• Users group member presentation (45-90 minutes).

• Technical presentation/guest speaker (45-90 minutes).

• Wrap-up, prize drawings, planning for next meeting (15 minutes).

Annual Support From SAS — Here’s What You GetThe items listed below are things that we make available to all users groups.

• In-person speaker.• Virtual speaker.• Email (invitation, reminder, thank you email).

In-house groups may find it easier to send an Outlook calendar request.

• Registration management.

• Event listing on SAS website (local users groups only).

• Giveaways.• Book certificates.• E-learning certificates.

Some users groups raffle off the book certificates and the e-learning voucher during their meeting. Others use these items as an incentive for members to present, or to create or add to their users group library.

Still have questions?Ask the SAS users group team by emailing ugsupport@sas.com, or contact your customer account representative for more information.

SAS® Users Group Development

• Establish a Marketing Plan

• Nurture Membership

Welcome & Build

Inform & Educate

Retain & Reinforce

Active Advocacy

Develop

Contact / Social

Establish Marketing Plan

Blueprint for SuccessTo attract new members and communicate effectively with existing ones, establish a marketing plan — but don’t set it in stone! This is something you will revisit periodically, revising as needed to realign it with any new priorities. SAS can provide marketing support for your group’s meetings, but the ultimate goal is to be self-sustaining.

Getting StartedIn order to reach current and prospective members, you first need to figure out who they are. Is your group for beginners? For specific product users? Or are they users of multiple SAS solutions at every level of expertise? Your group’s demographics may be immediately evident, or you may need to enlist your leadership team or recruit member volunteers to help identify exactly who your members are – and what you want your group to become. We can provide you with a survey customized with your group’s name. Or we can share an example to help get you started on your own self-created and hosted survey.

Once you have defined your target members, consider how you can reach them with your message. Are they active in other social organizations? Can you best connect to them via email, LinkedIn groups or other social media?

Define GoalsWhat are your goals when marketing to your group? Do you want to increase attendance? Raise awareness? Should your tactics include print media (which requires some budget allocated), or can you just use email, social media and word of mouth? Remember: You can use a variety of online tools, like Meetup or a Facebook event page, to post pictures and start conversations. Better yet, the sharing capabilities offered in these tools give your users ways to raise awareness with those outside the group. For more ideas, check out “Spreading the Word About Your Group” in the Welcome & Build section.

Consider how you will promote your group’s activities throughout the year. At a minimum, you should send invitations to upcoming meetings. Reminder and follow-up messages help spur attendance and strengthen connections.

SAS can assist you with meeting registration logistics if you do not have your own registration tool. However, if you prefer a do-it-yourself approach, we can recommend free or low-cost registration tools to try. SAS also provides templates to help guide your messaging and give your communications a streamlined, professional look. We’ll provide you with email marketing and online registration support for one meeting each year. But don’t stop there. It’s best to plan multiple meetings throughout the year to maintain an active and engaged group.

SAS® Users Group Development

• Establish a Marketing Plan

• Nurture Membership

Welcome & Build

Inform & Educate

Retain & Reinforce

Active Advocacy

Develop

Contact / Social

Tailor Meetings to Your Target MarketWhich event style is right for your audience? Some groups prefer the formality of traditional, lecture-style presentations. Others find success with more loosely structured, informal meetings that allow people to float from session to session without formal start and end times. Ideas for these less formal meeting styles include small-group discussions that last 20 minutes or less, rotating table topics, and opportunities for people to bring their own laptops to coding and crowdsourcing sessions. Or maybe a hybrid approach is right for you. Kick off your event with a formal presentation and then break into smaller groups.

Use pre- and post-event survey insights to help you choose the right event style. And give yourself the flexibility to adjust your format based on feedback as you start your group. Once you find an event style that works, promote it. Marketing materials that describe nontraditional meeting styles often pique the interest of new users who want to experience something novel.

Choose a Champion — and Check InAssign marketing functions to an established member or leader in your organization. These functions may include website creation and maintenance, email communication, newsletters, social channels, meeting agenda creation and logistics.

Once you’ve established your communication methods, especially if you have a web or social presence, it’s important to keep them current. At a minimum, web information and social channels should be no older than one month. Have regular check-ins throughout the year to discuss the effectiveness of marketing efforts. Did you reach your intended audience? Are there other, more effective ways of communicating your group’s activities and presence? Between check-ins, visit the SAS Users Group Leaders board on the SAS Communities site. It’s a great place to share marketing ideas with other group leaders, ask questions and get recommendations.

By dividing up or assigning these functions to an established member or leader, you’ll find that managing a users group doesn’t feel so overwhelming.

Call on UsDon’t forget that members of the SAS Users Group program team are always available to provide guidance and feedback if you have any questions about your marketing plan.

Establish a Marketing Plan (continued)

SAS® Users Group Development

• Establish a Marketing Plan

• Nurture Membership

Welcome & Build

Inform & Educate

Retain & Reinforce

Active Advocacy

Develop

Contact / Social

Keep Them Coming Back!Now that you’ve got a base membership, you don’t want to lose it! Determine the best ways to keep your members active and involved. Engaged members will not only strengthen your group, but also recruit new members and help you expand. But how do you know what they want from their users group?

Just AskPost-event surveys are a great way to gauge the success of meetings and get some guidance in planning the next ones. Are the meetings engaging? Too long? Too short? Are members interested in specific topics or speakers?

Annual surveys can also be a good way to get new and different ideas on how to recruit and keep your members. Ask your members for their input on meeting format, preferred activities, desire for mentoring and much more.

Once you receive this information, make sure you act on it. Communicate survey results to your members and let them know how the leadership is responding.

Keep It InterestingThe key to nurturing your membership is keeping the momentum and engagement going! Involve everyone in the group planning and activities. Don’t let too much time pass between meetings or contact with your members. Extracurricular activities, fun outings or volunteering together are different ways that you can continue to nurture your members.

Nurture Membership

SAS® Users Group Development

• Create Speaker Plan

• Establish an Online Presence

• Engage Members Live and Virtually

• Registration and Planning Tools

Welcome & Build

Retain & Reinforce

Active Advocacy

Develop

Contact / Social

Inform & Educate

Create a Speaker Base for Your Group

Build a Better MeetingWant to engage your current members, attract new members and help forge a stronger community of SAS users? Make your meetings more relevant and memorable by featuring speakers.

Featured speakers add value and versatility to the proceedings. Presentation topics may offer a thematic structure you can organize your meetings around. SAS provides speakers to users groups, but you should also consider developing your own list of speakers to supplement regular meetings throughout the year.

Tips for Finding SpeakersA tried-and-true method for finding speakers is to recruit from within — or nearby. Professional peers from your group or community will have locally relevant information to share and may welcome the opportunity to network. You could:

• Recruit candidates within your membership through a call for papers.

• Explore opportunities to share speakers with other users groups in the area.

• Identify members who may be seeking presentation experience, such as graduate students or Toastmasters participants.

• Reach out to local thought leaders.

A dedicated speaker coordinator — or speaker committee — can give focused attention to approaching and vetting potential speakers. Consider building that role into your users group’s leadership team.

Speak for YourselfWhy give a presentation? There are lots of great reasons to stand and deliver!

• It’s an open field. Although presenters tend to be midlevel or higher, if the product is new (or new to the users group), even a beginning user may have something to contribute.

• You’ve got something to say. The topic should be timely — and must be relevant to the specific users group.

• Practice makes perfect. Preparing for a speaking engagement hones both writing and presentation skills.

• You seek an audience. Writers may attract a following for their work — and even receive helpful feedback.

• Enhance your career. Presentations can open doors professionally and are a solid addition to any résumé.

SAS® Users Group Development

• Create Speaker Plan

• Establish an Online Presence

• Engage Members Live and Virtually

• Registration and Planning Tools

Welcome & Build

Retain & Reinforce

Active Advocacy

Develop

Contact / Social

Inform & Educate

Establish an Online Presence

Your Virtual Home BaseWe encourage you to establish an online presence so members and potential members can easily find information and updates about your group. An online presence may also provide a forum for your members to communicate with one another between meetings.

Keep it simple. The social media landscape changes fast, and it can be intimidating to dive in at first. Select one or two outlets that make the most sense for your group so you don’t get overwhelmed.

Questions to Ask• Which social media outlets do your

members use the most? Poll your members or potential members to see which social media outlets they prefer or are already using.

• Who should manage your social media channels?

• How many social channels should you have? How many could your group realistically manage?

• If you already have a website, wiki, LinkedIn group, Facebook page or Twitter account, how active are they?

Getting Started• Determine the pros and cons of each

social media outlet for your group. For example, Twitter updates will be short but frequent. With Facebook and LinkedIn, your posts can be longer, but unless group members go to your specific page, there’s less opportunity for your posts to be seen.

• Determine which of your volunteers will have posting privileges and what kind of information would interest and engage your group.

• Make it yours! Write a description, upload a cover image and seed your page, group or Twitter account with discussion topics.

• Invite members and potential members to join and participate.

SAS Can Help!The SAS Users Groups Program team can share online best practices and advise you on selecting social media accounts, creating social media plans and setting up a website.

SAS® Users Group Development

• Create Speaker Plan

• Establish an Online Presence

• Engage Members Live and Virtually

• Registration and Planning Tools

Welcome & Build

Retain & Reinforce

Active Advocacy

Develop

Contact / Social

Inform & Educate

Engage Members Live and Virtually

Going LiveIt’s important to facilitate connections through the face-to-face interactions that occur at live events. Informal gatherings help fulfill the social function, though they don’t necessarily further your group’s mission of developing SAS skills and knowledge.

Formal, in-person meetings — complete with presentations, keynote speakers and hands-on workshops — are a valuable cornerstone for any users group. However, they can also be labor-intensive, costly to organize and can take months to plan — especially when you factor in acquiring a venue, hosting guest speakers, and providing refreshments or giveaways.

Many users groups only support a single live meeting annually, but they view that yearly gathering as a crucial opportunity to strengthen their bonds as they network and plan for the months ahead in person. New groups especially should prioritize live events to help establish camaraderie and build positive group dynamics.

Virtual Virtues Virtual meetings are a great way to offer value to members and keep them engaged throughout the year. Because they can be planned in weeks instead of months, you can schedule multiple virtual meetings throughout the year, maintaining the momentum between live events.

They can also help you extend your group’s reach by including those who may not be able to attend otherwise. Because virtual meetings typically last only one or two hours, you may increase participation from those who find it difficult to step away from their jobs. Virtual meetings may also help expand your existing speaker base. By eliminating the cost and inconvenience of travel, you can access a wider range of experts.

With a shorter preparation time and event length, the virtual meeting can be used as a tool for longer-term learning opportunities. Survey your group members to determine what topics interest them most. Consider creating a series of virtual meetings based on their desired subjects. Time and package them consistently — a bimonthly “lunch and learn” series, for example, or midmorning “coffee breaks.”

Online presentations can become a lasting resource for your members: Record the virtual meetings or provide the presentation materials on your group’s website for on-demand access.

SAS can assist you in getting started with virtual meetings by providing guidance on the different platforms available, suggesting planning timelines, and offering tips on presentation and content for a virtual environment.

SAS® Users Group Development

• Create Speaker Plan

• Establish an Online Presence

• Engage Members Live and Virtually

• Registration and Planning Tools

Welcome & Build

Retain & Reinforce

Active Advocacy

Develop

Contact / Social

Inform & Educate

Registration and Planning Tools

RegisterWe strongly encourage you to set up some form of registration to keep track of attendees. You need to know if you’re going to exceed the seating limits of the venue. If you’re providing refreshments or giveaways, an accurate estimate of how much you’ll need will keep you from wasting money by buying too much or courting drama by not having enough. And most people who take the trouble to register tend to actually show up. Get them to commit!

SAS will provide registration for one meeting per year, but if your users group meets more often than annually — and we recommend that you do — you’ll need a way to manage your own registration. Some smaller groups make do with Outlook invitations or ask attendees to RSVP via email to a group leader, but there are several popular, easy-to-use, low- and no-cost event management options.*

*SAS does not specifically endorse or have affiliations with these services.

MeetUp.com• Monthly fee-based.• Requires an organizer

subscription.• Allows for ongoing

discussions between meetings and the ability to easily poll members.

• Requires attendee to create an account to join.

• Mobile app for iPhone® and Android.

Eventbrite• Free for free events.• Service and processing

fees for paid events.• Easily collect

demographics from attendees.

• Ability to send a survey after the event.

• Mobile app for iPhone and Android.

Facebook events• Free.• Works great if all

members are active on Facebook — no one has to sign up for an “extra” service.

• Makes it easy for members to promote the event if it is public.

• No ability to collect ticket fees directly.

SAS® Users Group Development

• Create Speaker Plan

• Establish an Online Presence

• Engage Members Live and Virtually

• Registration and Planning Tools

Welcome & Build

Retain & Reinforce

Active Advocacy

Develop

Contact / Social

Inform & Educate

Registration and Planning Tools (continued)

InviteIdeally you should send out invitations about a month in advance. Here are the elements of an effective invitation:

• A one-sentence overview of the meeting. Example: Join your colleagues and experts for an afternoon of learning and networking — including a hands-on demo of the latest features of SAS® Visual Analytics!

• Featured presentations or key reasons to attend in a brief bulleted list.

• Event date, time, location and any other helpful information such as details about parking or security.

• A brief description (up to 75 words) about the users group to provide context for prospective members.

• The contact person for questions about the event or users group.

• How to register or a link to the registration page.

Keep in mind that you can include speaker bios, full presentation descriptions and detailed directions on the registration page or your users group home page, so you don’t need to cram it all onto the invitation.

RemindSend a reminder email to registrants two or three days prior to the meeting. The reminder should include:

• Date, time, location and contact person. • Any changes or updates since the

invitation email was sent.

• Featured presentations or key reasons to attend. Even better: A detailed agenda.

A half-day session might look something like this:

• Registration and networking, often with breakfast, lunch or a snack (15-30 minutes).

• Housekeeping/announcements (10-15 minutes).

• Users group member presentation (45-90 minutes).

• Technical presentation/guest speaker (45-90 minutes).

• Wrap-up, prize drawings, planning for next meeting (15 minutes).

SAS® Users Group Development

• Create Speaker Plan

• Establish an Online Presence

• Engage Members Live and Virtually

• Registration and Planning Tools

Welcome & Build

Retain & Reinforce

Active Advocacy

Develop

Contact / Social

Inform & Educate

Registration and Planning Tools (continued)

Follow UpMaintain the connection by sending out a follow-up email thanking attendees for their participation and reminding them to revisit the users group home page for news and updates — don’t forget to include the link!

As a courtesy, SAS speakers sometimes share their presentation slides in the follow-up email. Avoid attaching files to the email; instead, post the file to your homepage or to Google Docs, Word Online or a similar web-based software program and provide a link.

Use a low- or no-cost online survey tool like Survey Monkey or Google Forms to solicit helpful feedback — and possibly recruit volunteers and speakers. Possible questions to ask include:

• Were the topics addressed relevant to your needs?

• What topics would you like to see addressed?

• Do you plan to attend future meetings? Why or why not?

• Are you interested in giving a presentation at a future meeting?

• Would you be willing to volunteer your time to help us at an upcoming event?

SAS® Users Group Development

• Demonstrate Community Value

• Cultivate Active Speakers & Mentors

Welcome & Build

Retain & Reinforce

Active Advocacy

Develop

Contact / Social

Inform & Educate

Demonstrate Community Value

Get SocialUsers groups with a strong social component to their membership tend to thrive as connections are made and friendships form. We see it happen on a grand scale at SAS® Global Forum, where users from around the world forge bonds through the many organized meetups and informal gatherings that occur over the course of the annual conference. But it’s even more important to create opportunities for your group members to engage with each other throughout the year.

For example, members of the Genesee Valley SAS Users Group in the greater Rochester, NY, area routinely gather after their meetings at a local pub for what they call “SAS in suds.” They also regularly organize picnics and other social events.

Eat, Play and Give Back — Together! If meeting for drinks doesn’t appeal to your group, how about a bike ride or a picnic in the park? If it’s important to your members, look for activities that can include kids, like a volleyball game or skating rink outing. Volunteering as a team for local charitable organizations can be a great bonding experience — and it further connects you all to your larger community.

Seek your members’ input as you plan events, and follow up with them afterward to determine which gatherings were the most successful. Perhaps their hobbies and interests can be channeled into recurring meetups, like a monthly barbecue or quarterly wilderness hike. Offer activities that will keep them coming back!

Strengthen the Online ComponentIf you want to get people together IRL (in real life), you need digital diligence to keep them informed and connected. Update your website regularly so people can easily find out what activities are going on. Beef up your online community by forming a group on Facebook or LinkedIn — or any online forum that encourages members to post news and trade views. A fun social calendar and engaging discussion boards might also serve to attract new members to your group.

SAS® Users Group Development

• Demonstrate Community Value

• Cultivate Active Speakers & Mentors

Welcome & Build

Retain & Reinforce

Active Advocacy

Develop

Contact / Social

Inform & Educate

Cultivate Active Speakers & Mentors

Promote and Expand Your Users GroupLooking for ways to communicate the value of your users group to the community at large? Encourage your members to showcase and share their SAS knowledge through speaking engagements and mentoring opportunities. Your group’s reputation will benefit, and so will the individual members who step up to the plate. Everyone wins!

Connect Speakers to OpportunitiesUrge your most promising speakers to submit presentation proposals to larger events, such as regional users group meetings and SAS Global Forum, which invites presenters at all levels of experience to submit papers; if their paper is accepted, the conference organizers will even match them with a mentor upon request. These assigned mentors may advise in content development or assist in preparing for the presentation.

Prospective speakers should join SAS Support Communities to connect to a broader network and let other SAS users groups (including in-house and local groups) know about their availability and subject-matter expertise. Users group leaders can reach out to each other about speaker needs and opportunities via SAS Support Communities as well.

Facilitate MentorshipMentorship encourages networking and friendships and adds another layer of value to your users group, ultimately helping to drive and maintain an active membership. Work with your members to establish a mentor program that connects newer users to more seasoned professionals.

Identify the potential mentors in your group and help them pinpoint how they can best share their knowledge and expertise, and give them opportunities to share their talents. Ask them to lead new user sessions at an upcoming meeting and encourage them to share contact information. Those who aren’t eager to address large groups might be willing to work individually with new users or lead online discussions. Consider the needs of your newer users as well, and seek to pair them with compatible mentors.

Build a ReputationAspiring speakers and mentors lay the groundwork for their roles through networking and finding opportunities to participate more fully in the SAS community. They can share their SAS knowledge and establish their expertise through blogging and active participation in other forms of social media. They can advise, assist and engage others who reach out for help online — and they in turn can gain new insights and forge valuable collaborations! As an added benefit, these activities can greatly enhance their resumes and LinkedIn profiles. To help get your members started interacting online, direct them to SAS Blogs, and SAS Support Communities and the SAS Users Group on LinkedIn.

SAS® Users Group Development

• Foster Active Community Base

• Nurture and Grow Mentor Program

Welcome & Build

Retain & Reinforce

Active Advocacy

Develop

Contact / Social

Inform & Educate

Foster Active Community Base

Start Strong and Build MomentumAs discussed in Demonstrate Community Value, a successful start is all about helping people enjoy their users group experiences to ensure they’ll keep coming back. Fostering the group’s social commitment helps forge strong bonds and build momentum.

Assign a Dedicated CommitteeA social or membership committee can focus on community activities to keep members engaged. The committee should be a small group of volunteers. Depending on the size of your group, one or two people may be enough to start; you can re-evaluate later.

A membership committee might also take charge of invitations and other promotions, as well as survey the members to gauge where their interests lie. Perhaps your group prefers volunteer work to social outings, or an evening at the pub to a nature hike — or perhaps they’d like all of those things. The only way to find out is to ask!

Keep Checking InAs membership grows, the group’s needs, interests and priorities may change. If turnout isn’t great for an organized get-together, it’s important to pinpoint what might have gone wrong and find ways to improve engagement. Reach out to members periodically to determine whether you’re still offering activities that they find interesting.

Don’t forget about the online aspects of an active community base. Update your website and social media pages frequently to keep your members informed. People want to know what’s going on!

Make It SustainableTo help keep your users group community vibrant and viable, identify some key people who can bring their strengths into play. Who’s your idea person? Who’s your detailed organizer? Who’s your long-term planner? Who’s your social butterfly? Who’s your budget-conscious pragmatist? These are the people you should turn to in order to help ensure continued success in creating unforgettable users group experiences.

Finally, consider offering ongoing activities that focus on new members. Not only is this a great way to welcome them and help them get to know others in a comfortable environment, but new members are key to the group’s longevity!

SAS® Users Group Development

• Foster Active Community Base

• Nurture and Grow Mentor Program

Welcome & Build

Retain & Reinforce

Active Advocacy

Develop

Contact / Social

Inform & Educate

Nurture and Grow Mentor Program

Mentors Help Your Users Group ShineA robust mentor program helps bolster group membership and involvement and makes for a stronger group overall. When people share their strength with others, everyone is empowered to succeed. Activate or revitalize your mentor program by working to expand the number of members who are recognized mentors in any or all of these areas:

• Career/professional growth, such as: • Software skills and knowledge. • Paper writing and presentation experience.• Users group organization and leadership.

Lean InGauge potential candidates you may already have within your ranks. In what areas do you think they would excel at mentoring? What are their topics of expertise? Do they have experience in forming users groups or recruiting great speakers? A reputation for creating unforgettable presentations at conferences or making lasting impressions at networking events? Zero in on what you consider to be their greatest potential mentoring strengths, and be specific about those qualities when you approach them in the hopes of enlisting them as mentors.

Reach OutThink about who you know in the community. Perhaps you have contacts who are active professionals in other arenas or who even have leadership roles in other users groups. Reach out to those people to determine their interest in mentoring. If they’re not already engaged in mentoring, don’t assume it’s because they don’t want to — people may not realize their talents are sought, and they’re usually flattered to be asked. Even if they decline, you may come away with a referral to an available colleague with a similar skill set.

Branch OutOnce you’ve built a solid cadre of mentors, don’t keep it under wraps! Announce their availability on your group’s website and social media pages. Share it with other users group leaders on SAS Communities. Talk about mentoring opportunities when you get together at local or regional meetings — or at SAS Global Forum. Introducing your experts to others is a great way to get people involved in your group and keep them interested.

SAS® Users Group Development

Welcome & Build

Retain & Reinforce

Active Advocacy

Develop

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